The No. 8 LSU softball team defeated No. 10 Auburn by a walk-off hit for the second night in a row to clinch its first Southeastern Conference series of the season.
Sophomore first baseman Amanda Doyle continued to shine at the plate for the Tigers as she recorded the game-winning RBI to score sophomore left fielder Aliyah Andrews and secure the victory for LSU.
“There’s nobody more fitting than to have the game winner,” said LSU coach Beth Torina. “She’s done so many great things offensively, so she’s very deserving of that moment.”
“I’ve been hitting hard balls right to people the entire weekend, so I knew that I was going to hit the ball hard,” Doyle said. “It just happened to land, so I was happy about that.”
The program was celebrating its 25th anniversary and many of LSU’s softball alumni, including former head coach Yvette Girouard and All-Americans Bailey Landry and Kristin Schmidt, were in attendance for the game and honored during pregame festivities.
Schmidt, who recorded 1,154 career strikeouts for LSU and Notre Dame, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“To see so many women show up today was amazing,” Torina said. “They’ve truly laid the foundation for where we are today. We stay in Tiger Park and have these talented players all because of what they’ve done in the past.”
Torina took over for Girouard as head coach in 2012 following her retirement and still looks to her as a mentor for the program.
“She’s one of the greatest coaches that ever coached the game,” Torina said. “To have her right here in Baton Rouge is pretty amazing.”
Sophomore pitcher Maribeth Gorsuch started in the circle against Auburn and struck out its lead off batter to start the game. She finished the night with four strikeouts and added to her total of 24 strikeouts for the season so far.
“Maribeth just had a great day and exceeded all of our expectations,” Torina said. “For her to go out and have a performance like that was pretty amazing.”
As Auburn tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, senior pitcher Allie Walljasper came on in a relief role for Gorsuch. Walljasper struck out the final Auburn batter to end the inning and earned the win to move to 9-1 on the season.
“It was a great feeling, especially after going out for Maribeth,” Walljasper said. “Coming in for her and getting that win just meant so much more for me because of how much she worked her butt off.”
As two of the five SEC teams ranked inside of the Top 10, LSU and Auburn were locked in a tight matchup once again. The game was scoreless for the first three innings until both of LSU’s transfers started to deliver for their offense.
Junior second baseman Becca Schulte and junior designated player Michaela Schlattman scored both of LSU’s runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Schulte doubled down right field and reached third base after a fielding error from Auburn caused Schlattman to advance from first to second.
“They both have done well,” Torina said. “Becca is starting to come into her own and Michaela is swinging better, too. They way that they have approached this weekend has been excellent.”
LSU (21-2, 2-0 SEC) and Auburn (23-4, 0-2 SEC) will conclude their weekend series at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Tiger Park.